Balcony collapse killed dozens on 1913's Empire Day

Fannie P. McGehee and Melvin Budge stood on the brink of eternity in Long Beach one brief moment 100 years ago, their lives soon to take much different directions.

On a crowded wooden balcony in a large arena, they were among thousands of British or Canadian citizens and expatriates celebrating Empire Day, the annual holiday of the British Commonwealth.

The joy of the afternoon disappeared in an instant when the balcony collapsed into a sea of humanity, killing dozens and injuring hundreds more. McGehee died in the fall while Budge barely missed being hurled to the floor.

The largely forgotten events of May 24, 1913, marked one of the deadliest disasters in Southern California of the early 20th century.

The collapse of the over-crowded building - jammed with mostly older women - killed nearly 40 people. Why McGehee, a long-time San Bernardino resident, was killed and Budge, of Ontario, escaped was simply a matter of a few feet.

McGehee, a 27-year resident of San Bernardino where she was prominent in education and local society, had moved to Long Beach to live with her daughter the summer before.

The daughter "and Mrs. McGehee were standing together when the floor of the pier collapsed, and both were precipitated into the funnel of death," reported the San Bernardino Sun of May 26.

The elderly lady died instantly from the fall. Despite being badly hurt, her dazed daughter did manage to get out of the wreckage and even walk home before she fainted from her injuries.

Good fortune was on the side of Budge who had the closest call of any of the 125-member Ontario contingent who traveled to Long Beach that day.

"He was on the very edge of the pit," wrote the Ontario Daily Report of May 26.

"The shoring gave way at his feet and a frantic woman in front of him, who had started to slip into the funnel of death, seized him as he stepped back. Both were saved. "

The building was plunged into chaos. Volunteer workers rushed in hoping to help those still alive amid the debris, but they were soon overwhelmed by frantic relatives themselves seeking missing family members.

One person who played a key role was J.B. Draper, founder of Ontario's mortuary, who had accompanied Ontario's group to Long Beach and briefly found himself a "victim" of the collapse.

After the crash, Draper toured the various hospitals to determine if anyone from Ontario was being treated there. He soon helped officials deal with the dead and wounded as well as those seeking information about their loved ones.

Draper was answering the phones at one hospital when he looked at one written message, saying, "If the body of J.B. Draper of Ontario is brought here, notify. . . . "

"Anxious Long Beach friends had noticed Draper in the van of the parade heading toward the platform which collapsed shortly before the flooring gave way," noted the Daily Report. "and were fearful he had been killed. "

Draper called his concerned friends with the news he was uninjured, as was everyone from Ontario.

Britisher Mrs. Oliver Pritchett of Pomona, holding a baby, was also only 10 feet from the collapsed balcony. A former nurse, she handed the child to her husband and went to the floor of the arena to assist the wounded.

"It haunts me so I can hardly do anything," she recalled the experience to the Pomona Progress.

As the days passed, the magnitude of the disaster became clearer: 12-year-old Margaret Reed of San Bernardino received a concussion in the collapse and was seriously hospitalized for some time. Mrs. J.D. Johnson of Claremont discovered her mother, Elizabeth Kendall, was seriously injured in the collapse and an aunt was among the dead. It seemed almost everyone knew of at least one casualty of the collapse.

Though it was long ago, the days that followed demonstrated that mass media was even then starting to filter into our lives.

The June 12 Daily Report told of a "moving pictures" program planned that night at the Isis Theatre in Ontario showing photos of the Long Beach disaster.

A firm hired to film all the activities of the Empire Day event captured motion pictures of the aftermath of the disaster. The silent film included pictures of the coroner's jury, the hospitals and caring for the injured.

The film was shown for seven days in Long Beach and twice in Pomona before going to Ontario.